[ EDITORIAL ]

Sales-Tax Deduction: Real Action Needed By Congress

Published: Saturday, December 21, 2013 at 12:01 a.m.

Last Modified: Friday, December 20, 2013 at 9:02 p.m.

Year after year, Washington state taxpayers are forced to play Congress' aggravating game of fantasy role-playing. Alas, there are no elixirs or elves, although there are a few ogres.

An editorial by the Seattle Times.

In this game, Congress pretends it will magically transform into a body capable of passing a comprehensive tax bill. Such a bill would almost assuredly include a permanent federal income-tax deduction for state and local sales taxes, on par with the existing permanent deduction for state income taxes. This matters because some states, such as Washington, have the former, but not the latter.

Instead, every year since 2004, Congress has passed a temporary extension of the sales-tax deduction. Next year, fantastical thinking goes, will be the big fix for the tax code.

Washington's delegation, led for years by U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, has tried to pop this absurdity. So too this year, with Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., hammering away. President Barack Obama is on board, recommending a permanent sales-tax deduction. But the U.S. House left town for the year without so much as another temporary extension, effectively ending the deduction beginning in 2014.

The fantasy game will likely resume on Jan. 6: Congress could pass a retroactive exemption, allowing deductions for the full 2014 calendar year. They could even pretend it had never expired, and, with a sprinkle of pixie dust, wipe clean the memory that the 113th U.S. Congress was the least productive in the history of the country, passing just 56 bills as of last week.

<p>Year after year, Washington state taxpayers are forced to play Congress' aggravating game of fantasy role-playing. Alas, there are no elixirs or elves, although there are a few ogres.</p><p><center><i>An editorial by the Seattle Times.</i></center></p><p>In this game, Congress pretends it will magically transform into a body capable of passing a comprehensive tax bill. Such a bill would almost assuredly include a permanent federal income-tax deduction for state and local sales taxes, on par with the existing permanent deduction for state income taxes. This matters because some states, such as Washington, have the former, but not the latter.</p><p>Instead, every year since 2004, Congress has passed a temporary extension of the sales-tax deduction. Next year, fantastical thinking goes, will be the big fix for the tax code.</p><p>Washington's delegation, led for years by U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, has tried to pop this absurdity. So too this year, with Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., hammering away. President Barack Obama is on board, recommending a permanent sales-tax deduction. But the U.S. House left town for the year without so much as another temporary extension, effectively ending the deduction beginning in 2014.</p><p>The fantasy game will likely resume on Jan. 6: Congress could pass a retroactive exemption, allowing deductions for the full 2014 calendar year. They could even pretend it had never expired, and, with a sprinkle of pixie dust, wipe clean the memory that the 113th U.S. Congress was the least productive in the history of the country, passing just 56 bills as of last week.</p><p>Congress should end this game. Pass a permanent sales-tax deduction.</p>